Review: My Top 5 Winter Books for Littles

~ by Kendal

On the 1st December, we will be changing our Seasons Table over from Autumn to Winter. Although Autumn will always be my favourite season, I've never been so excited to acknowledge it passing into Winter. It means the festivities can truly begin, and now Ava is at an age where she can really appreciate lots of different things about this season

Next to our table (which is actually our fireplace) and our Christmas tree, we keep a basket of books that are particularly fitting for this month - books that celebrate the season and Yule. We plan to read some of these books every night, sitting next to the tree, and perhaps sipping a little hot chocolate, all the way through December. So let me share what are our favourite Winter books are this year, in no particular order.

All of these books are in our Amazon store if you want to find out more - just click on the title!

1. The Tomten by Astrid Lindgren

We got this for Ava last year, but she is starting to really appreciate the story - A story about a strange little creature that only animals and small children can see, who walks about the silent farmyard at night checking on the animals and sleeping humans, and dreaming of warmer summer days. We love this story because it captures some of the magic and strangeness of snowy, silent Winter nights.

2. Winter by Gerda Muller













The Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter books by Gerda Muller are one of my favourite series of all time. We got these for Ava when she was very young, but because there are no words, just beautifully depicted seasonal scenes, you can make up the story as you go along. These days, Ava is the one who makes up the story and she really loves these books. They take pride of place on our Seasons Table.

3. The Mitten by Jan Brett











This was the first book Ava was ever given as a gift. It's a story about a boy whose Grandma knits him a pair of mittens. He loses one, and gradually different animals find their way inside, stretching it huge.

It's quite a simple story but the animals make it a firm favourite with Ava and it is a brilliant book to read out loud. It has a very enchanting, nostalgic feel.

4. Ollie's Ski Trip by Elsa Beskow













We got this book recently because, frankly, we're a little obsessed with Elsa Beskow, and although it is quite wordy, Ava has been quite taken with it. The pictures are lovely and the story is as magical and simple as all of Elsa Beskow's stories are - A boy who is given his very first pair of skis and decides to use them to set off on a Winter adventure to see Jack Frost and King Winter, who shows Ollie his Ice Palace where all the presents are made. (A nice alternative to Santa Clause if, like us, you don't do Santa!)

5. The Story of the Snow Children by Sybille Van Olfers

Ava's Solstice book last year was The Story of the Root Children which we instantly fell in love with, so this was one of her winter books this year. It is whimsical and has a simple, yet heartwarming tale. The snow children are dancing snowflakes, who promise a girl they will take her to meet the Snow Queen, and off she goes to meet a princess and enjoy a beautiful feast. It is a classic and a perfect tale for young children.


What are your favourite Winter books?

Review: The Seven Silly Eaters

~ by Kendal

Of all the baby and toddler books that we have ever read, I have one firm favourite – the same favourite that Ava happens to have; The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman.

We’ve had it for over a year, and yet even when Ava was pretty young, she would sit enthralled at the cascading rhyme that runs throughout the story and the brilliant artwork by Marla Frazee

The story is about Mr and Mrs. Peters and their seven children, all of whom have very unusual eating habits. Peter only wants milk,  Lucy only wants pink lemonade,  ('Not from a can...Oh, no...Homemade’),  Jack only wants applesauce, Mac oatmeal (‘But if his oatmeal had a lump, Mac would dump it on the cat, Mrs. Peters hated that'), Mary Lou only eats homemade bread and Flo and Fran poached and fried eggs.

Over the years, with each new addition to the Peters’ clan, Mrs. Peters does her very best to accommodate the specific wishes of each child but ends up feeling, well, just a little frazzled!

 'Creamy oatmeal, pots of it!

Homemade bread and lots of it!

Peeling apples by the peck,

Mrs. Peters was a wreck.'

Noticing their Mama’s exhaustion, the children decide to make Mrs. Peters a special birthday breakfast made up of all the food that she makes them every day. They wake up at the crack of dawn on her birthday and sneak down to the kitchen, however since none of them know how to cook, it ends up being a disaster, and they fling their concoction into one pot.

'But when they saw what they had done

They wished they never had begun

They'd hardly slept a wink that night

And still things hadn't turned out right.

And even though they'd tried their best,

It hadn't worked,

They were depressed.'

Hiding it in the oven, which is still hot, they wake up to their Mama dancing around the kitchen with glee. In the oven is a ‘pink and plump and perfect cake’ – and since this birthday cake is made only from the special foods each child likes, it becomes the single meal they prepare every day – each of them helping and taking turns to fix it.

It is such a heartwarming story and Mrs. Peters comes across as such a gentle, lovely Mama, with her brood of fantastically individual children on her little homestead, that it certainly appealed to us.

The drawings match the up-beat, wry and heartwarming rhyme perfectly, and leave you feeling as if you know the Peters family very well. Ava certainly knows each of the children and what they love to eat. Sometimes when she eats oatmeal she will point at it and say, ‘Mac! Mac!’ which I just love.

Mary Ann Hoberman was the children’s Poet Laureate from 2008 until 2010 and it is easy to see why. We also have A House is a House for Me, which has the same kind of riotous and whimsical rhyme. As for Marla Frazee, the illustrator, her drawings are second to none. Another children’s book she has illustrated – Everywhere Babies – is another favourite here, and the only kids book I own where there are several gay couples depicted throughout, as well as images of breastfeeding and babywearing Mamas too!

I hope you get a chance to read The Seven Silly Eaters at some point. I keep buying it for people I know, so certain I am that they will fall in love with it too. After a year of reading it aloud to Ava at least once a day,  I know most of it off by heart – sometimes I even wake up reciting the lines in my head! For us, it is the perfect family, read-aloud story.

Review - Kadria Baby Balm

 - By Emi

Well, I am a very lucky girl indeed!

Earlier this year, I was chosen to review some products for The Green Parent magazine. Soon, a box full of lovely goodies arrived, and I went in to raptures over the sheer amount of products in there!

However, there was one that really stood out. A product that I Could Not Fault.

Enter stage left: Kadria Baby Balm.

I mean, come on! Look at that packaging!

I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of cutesy-packaged baby products, so this really appealed to me. It looks grown up and elegant. The simple black and white colour scheme is carried through the entire range, and makes me feel like an adult woman for a moment, briefly forgetting the smushed banana in my hair, the damp patch on my top where the toddler spilled juice on me, the paint on my jeans... Heaven. (And we haven't even opened the bottle yet!)

Once you get inside (packaging is remarkably toddler-proof! Yay!), a big sniff of the contents transports you to another world. Deep frankincense notes mix with an underlying layer of lavender.

The yellow balm is super rich and effortlessly creamy. Add in to the mix the fact that this balm doesn't stain our cloth nappies... well... it just gets better and better.



What's that?

You want more from a baby balm than just a good smell and pretty labels?

You need it to be fairtrade? And made from organic and wild-harvested plants? No alcohol? Vegan friendly? Suitable for sensitive baba skin? Suitable for use on with eczema and psoriasis?

BAM.

*points at the Kadria*

It's also not tested on animals, the packaging is biodegradable, and the shea butter comes from a cooperative in Ghana, so you're supporting them too!


I rave about this stuff to ALL mothers.

Now, admittedly, you may shy away at the idea of £14 for a baby balm, but trust me, this is so worth it! The tiniest bit goes a long, long way, so it lasts a really long time. Not only that, knowing that it really is a high-quality product, so you truly get what you pay for.

And you know what else? All Kadria products are made in small batches by a wonderful, British, WAHM named Rebecca, who has two children of her own so she *knows* first-hand what a balm needs to be.

If you want to treat yourself and your baby to some of this crazily-gorgeous balm or anything else from this equally sweet range, head on over to the Kadria Etsy store or the Kadria website.



And you know what?

I think I know a very special, newly preggy Crafty by Nurture Mama who might be getting some Kadria Baby Balm in her Yule stocking if she's a very, very good girl...




Even better, we'll be bringing you an interview with Rebecca, the founder of Kadria, very soon!

Review: The Big Rumpus

~by Kendal

The Big Rumpus is one of the few books I’ve ever read that is actually laugh out loud funny. A candid account of urban life for a young bohemian family, the stories are both hilarious and quirky and have all the honest and sometimes cringeworthy details you’d expect from this author, Ayun Halliday.

Halliday became famous after her parenting zine, The East Village Inky, began to gain an underground cult following. Adored for its pithy drawings and words exposing both her parenting foibles and her strong opinions on everything from public breastfeeding to co-sleeping, Halliday gave voice to a new breed of parents – parents who wore their babies and celebrated the bizarre oddities of their children’s character. ('All Inky wants to do is talk about the murder of John Lennon. I think it's my fault.')

Reflecting on the absurdly fleeting nature of childhood, Halliday writes, ‘…I have to remind myself to relish the constant, exhaustive demands little children make on my body and my time. I’m preparing myself to miss Inky’s frequent bleating – I’ll miss it when she can’t wait to ditch me. Sweet memory will soften the edges of their razor-sharp fingernails, those sticky paws and all the little elbows and heels that have found their way to my eye sockets. I’ll long for the old burdens when Inky and Milo are sneaking out the window to swap bodily fluids with their friends.’

Halliday’s voice is inimitable and manages to expose the bittersweet reality of watching your children grow, whilst at the same time never becoming too sentimental or twee. She is unflinchingly honest about her opinions on everything, yet quick to point out when and where and how often she falls short, which makes you wish she was your best friend. She is ferocious, Amazonian and also a total slob.

The Big Rumpus is a kind of memoir of the first years of her daughter and son’s lives, organised into somewhat random chapters and covering a huge range of topics. The chapter entitled NeoNatalSweetPotato is all about the birth of her daughter and subsequent days spent in the NICU, waiting for her to come home. In the chapter entitled, ‘Topless Lunch’, Halliday writes,

‘Breastfeeding is wonderfully intimate, but it’s also so danged handy! Kid did a triple gainer off the jungle gym? A hooter will fix what ails her. The balloon from the shoe store popped after a passionate but all too brief romance? Num-num num-num….It is as legal in our country to breastfeed children past babyhood as it is to bitch about it. People who want to protect children from harm would do better to fill up a grocery cart on behalf of a hungry family than to hassle mothers whose well-fed sucklings are too big for a high chair. In the land of plenty, breastfeeding women should be represented on a postage stamp, not in Family Court’

One review recommended the book to any stay at home mum who ‘believes in natural birth and granola’, but honestly, whatever your parenting views, this book is a good, well-written and funny read about things that every parent experiences, even if they don’t always admit it. And in the constant stream of serious and challenging parenting books that come their way in this house, in most houses, I imagine, it was a welcome bit of light relief.

For more info on Ayun Halliday, check out her website.

To buy the book, visit our Amazon Store!

Review - 'A First Book of Nature' by Nicola Davies

~by Emi

Beautiful. Exquisite. Stunning.

The first three words that spring to mind every time I have occasion to open 'A First Book of Nature'.

Originally given to Ru as a third birthday gift from Godfather Tom G. in June, Ru and I must have looked at it every other day since.

Why?

Well, first off, it looks like an art journal, travelling through the seasons, every page a complete visual delight. It looks beautiful, from the cold depths of the snowy winter lands right up to the warmth and joy of life in Summer.

I often find myself studying the pictures long after my children are asleep, admiring and appreciating the tiniest details that my three year old may overlook within the images. The illustrator, Mark Hearld, has excelled himself, his influences from Edward Bawden are apparent, an artist I myself enjoy. There are a few images that remind me of Nikki McClure's work too.

As for the text itself, it includes poetry, simple recipes, how-to's, factual information and inspiration for activities.

Starting with Spring, the book journeys through many topics including listening to a pond, bird migration and nesting, making compost and cherry blossom.

Summer brings us honey, caterpillars and butterflies, rock pooling, dens and five reasons to keep chickens (Number 1 is 'They look very silly when they are taking a dust bath.')

The colours of Autumn deliver wind, geese and acorns, worms, apples and berry picking, complete with pictures resplendent in the shades the time of year is known for.

Last, but by no means least, is Winter. Here, a fox runs through a night-time snowscape, save seeds, watch deer in the dawn and mull over naked winter trees.

This would be an amazing gift for any child, but especially for those from a home that follows and celebrates the seasons, perfect as a permanent addition to a seasons table.

I almost don't want to say any more, as all I can do is URGE you to buy this book as soon as you possibly can, and I will definitely be checking out Nicola Davies' other titles.


Buy This Book. Do It. You Won't Regret It.

I Promise.

Review: The Creative Family

~by Kendal 

There are few people in this world who have influenced me as much as Amanda Blake Soule, and no one more so than when it comes to parenting. I read The Creative Family before I was even pregnant, when my good friend, who has an uncanny knack of knowing exactly what and who I’m going to love, sent it to me.

It was one of those books that I read from cover to cover, feeling that rare sense of simultaneous wonder and familiarity. Yes, I thought. This lady gets it, this lady has put into words exactly what I already knew but couldn’t say, or wanted to know but wasn’t quite there yet.

The Creative Family is the first of three books by Amanda Blake Soule, famous for her much loved blog SouleMama. It is my favourite of all of them, because it combines simple yet insightful thoughts on parenting mindfully, whilst offering a variety of easy to follow activites which nurture creativity in young ones.

Is it not an easily categorizable book. That is, I would not say it is a book on parenting, and nor would I say it was a Crafting book. Within a chapter on ‘Being Resourceful’, where Soule talks about the importance of handmade and respecting our planet, she gives instructions on how to make comfy trousers using old T-shirts and sweaters (something we have done many times here)

Within chapters on things such as ‘Everyday Rituals’, ‘Exploring Through Nature’ and ‘Encouraging Imagination’ there are instructions on some wonderful activites, but they are all tied in to a deeper thread which focuses on how to live mindfully and meaningfully with your family, always working towards building connections with one another and finding ways to live a creative and harmonious life.

Within a chapter entitled ‘Gathering Materials’, she gives tutorials on how to make wool felt blocks for younger babies, and felt pencil rolls for older children. Within a chapter entitled ‘Sharing the Tradition of Handmade’ she talks about how to encourage even the youngest children to sew and knit and shows some very easy examples of how to do so.

I have used many of these tutorials with or for Ava and each one has not only been a simple yet lovely activity to do together, but it has indeed added to our own family’s desire to ‘keep things simple’, which means, for us, a great deal of creating within our own home.

The tutorial on how to create a bedtime bag for your Little to put his or her PJ’s and bedtime book in is one of my favourites as it has truly helped us to create a much looked-forward-to bedtime routine with Ava.

Likewise, the tutorial on Family Hearts (a heart shaped cushion that can carry notes in the pocket, so your wee ones can read your words when they are away from you) was so inspiring I have made many, many for Ava and her friends.

And then there are a myriad of simple but heartwarming ideas like The Gratitude Hug; when one of Soule’s children isn’t feeling their best, they get a figurative ‘talking hug’, showered in words of gratitude from the rest of the family about what each of them really loves and appreciates about that child.

This book is one of the few books I would recommend to anyone with a family, or anyone even thinking about starting a family. It works so well because it is not forceful and nor does it attempt to explain Soule’s somewhat ‘alternative’ lifestyle choices, but like the blog she writes, it merely opens up a life that is lived beautifully, with intent.

I remember reading this and thinking that this family and their way of living was exactly what I wanted for myself. This book led me to the blog where I read 6 years of archives, where I eagerly await each new post every day. This book led me to the idea of homeschooling, and then unschooling, and cemented some radical and some transformative ideas in my head which have changed the way we live.

Such is the power of showing, not telling (as my first writing teacher liked to say) and that is what Amanda Blake Soule does so well in all of her writing. She understands the great power that lies in showing by example, and I believe one of the reasons The Creative Family has enchanted so many is because her world, and her views, are never forced upon you. Her writing is powerful because it is gentle and quietly confident and one gets the feeling that Amanda Blake Soule does not have anything to prove – her family is living proof of how amazing this way of living can be.

If you’re looking for ideas on how to live a more creative, handmade life, ideas on how to nurture imagination within your family in very simple and achievable ways, this book is ideal. I urge you, read it, and you will love it.

Ava's birthday crown, based on one of the tutorials in The Creative Family.

The Creative Family is available on our Amazon Store.

Review - 'Stuck' by Oliver Jeffers

~by Emi

In our home, we love reading. Bookcases in each bedroom, as well as the living room. Ru, especially, is a voracious reader. And one author we love over several others is the wonderful Oliver Jeffers.

Our first Oliver Jeffers book was the magical How To Catch A Star, and that was it, we were hooked.

We eagerly tracked down every other existing story he had written, and very quickly his quirky tales became firm favourites in our home, and were books that Ru asked for again and again. So often, in fact, that he will 'read' the stories to himself from the pictures.

So, when we found out that another story was in the pipeline, we pre-ordered it on Amazon and sat eagerly waiting, biting our nails, until it arrived...

All of Mr Jeffers' books are so beautifully unique, and 'Stuck' is no exception. The story of Floyd who gets his kite stuck in a tree is outlandish, ridiculous and silly. I wouldn't have expected anything less.

From a paper-plane chopping bear, to a boy with unusual literary tastes, to stuck up pigeons, his books are filled with curious characters and Stuck's Floyd is no exception. His brilliant solution of throwing more and more crazy things at a problem in order to fix it had us in stitches, more so than any of his other books.

I can imagine Oliver Jeffers talking to his Inner Child as he wrote this book, asking him what was going to throw up into the tree next, and the giggling inner child answers 'A whale!'. 'A... whale?' asks Oliver hesitantly, with the same tone of voice that I use when my three year old tells me he wants toothpaste for breakfast, 'Are you sure?'. The Inner Child answers with an emphatic yes, going on to urge him to include an orangutan, a fire engine and also a sink.

The drawings are brilliant, as standard, with Jeffers' signature handwritten text telling the story with his usual creative flair. They don't have quite the detail that, say, 'The Heart And The Bottle' does, or the fascinating multitude of textures that are prominent in 'The Incredible Book-Eating Boy', but they are undeniably Jeffers-esque nevertheless.

Some people have criticised this book for not having enough of a story... Granted, it doesn't have the heart-warming conclusions that 'The Way Back Home' and 'Lost and Found' have led us to expect from his work, but for pure hilarity, 'Stuck' is a winner every single time, often reducing grown men to fits of giggles.

With Ru being three, Stephen and I are often asked to read the same books over and over and over and over and over and over and... well... you get the idea. I have no shame in admitting that we have previously, when faced with yet ANOTHER request for 'The Cow Who Laid An Egg' or 'Dippy Duck Dresses Up', taken to hiding the book in question so we don't have to read it again, squirelling it away under the sofa or in a cupboard, only to feel guilty weeks later on discovering the forgotten, dusty book.

'Stuck' will NEVER be one of these. My record right now stands at reading this 5 times in a row, (one ahead of its closest competitor 'Captain Flynn and the Pirate Dinosaurs: Missing Treasure!') and I am STILL not bored of it, nor do I think I ever will be.

I found out today that Jeffers is to release another undoubtedly stellar story soon, 'This Moose Belongs To Me', but it will have a LOT of hard work to do to live up to the sparkle and general good-feelings left in our family after a snuggle on the sofa with 'Stuck'.

In the meantime, enjoy the video. This is Ru and Tom G. (one of his godfathers) reading 'Stuck'. And laughing.

Emi, x

"CATS get stuck in trees

all the time, but this

was GETTING RIDICULOUS."
~Oliver Jeffers 'Stuck'

'Stuck' is also in our Amazon store here!